Michael Janis

Artist Bio


Born in Chicago, IL
Lives and works in Washington, DC

Inspired by ways we transform ourselves, I work at creating glass pieces that have both visual and spatial depth. By layering and fusing sheets of glass with overlapping elements, I aim for an interactive commentary using simple forms with intricate glass powder drawings. These works are a continuation of my frit powder drawings that I have been working on for some time now. The layered compositions allow me to create unusual relationships within the imagery.

Using crushed glass powder to create drawings, I can affect the elements of light, color and also sequence. The glass powder is sifted onto glass sheets, and by scraping and scratching the sifted black glass dust, the figures take form. The glass panel is then fired in an electric kiln at temperatures up to 1600°F. The time consuming process of my artwork helps me to focus and experiment with the ways and means to depict the poetry, symbolism and magic of the everyday.
I work hard to create some kind of meaning out of my artworks – a dream-state surrealism filled with haunted, subtle images that hint at questions. The work has an intrinsic meaning for me, but they remain open to multiple interpretations. I count on the viewer to draw their own conclusions, and find meanings beyond those I put there.

Art critic and author F. Lennox Campello wrote about my work:…”the images depict a stream of consciousness world, where they straddle a border between reality and dream, past life and present …Seamless construction and simplicity of form contrasts with the detail of Janis' images. He integrates elements of light, color and also sequence within his scenes, suspending them within layers of fused glass …the end results of this complicated process are spectacular glass drawings. That the substrate is glass just adds a visually "different" treat to the eyes, and a three dimensionality that paper cannot deliver...Through the layering of elements that react to perceptions of gender, culture and time, Janis attempts to generate compositions that serve as means of immersion into an emotional tenor …However, it is through these objects and environments that Janis begins to understand the indeterminate and ever-changing aspects of our humanity.” Campello, F. Lennox, 100 Artists of Washington, DC, Schiffer Publishing, USA, 2011.

As Co-Director and instructor at the Washington Glass School in Washington, DC, I have also have taught workshops at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, California’s Bay Area Glass Institute and at Istanbul’s Glass Furnace in Turkey. I was recently awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, and starting Spring of 2012, I will be at the University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom.

I first began working with glass as an architect in Australia, where my projects received international awards. My architectural discipline is evident my precise and detailed ‘sgraffito’ technique.

The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass named me a “Rising Star” at the 2011 GlassWeekend Biennial. I was named ‘Outstanding Emerging Artist 2009’ by the Florida Glass Art Alliance, and was awarded the 2010 California Saxe Fellowship. My work is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.


Gallery Representation:

Maurine Littleton Gallery
1667 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
www.littletongallery.com